Do deaf children use phonological syllables as reading units?

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Developmental Psychology
• Linguistics

Background:

• Written word processing relies on phonological units.
• Syllables are key units in French orthography and phonology.
• Understanding how deaf children process written language is crucial.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate if deaf children segment written words based on phonological units.
• To compare the segmentation strategies of deaf and hearing children.
• To explore the role of orthographic versus phonological cues in written word processing for deaf children.

Main Methods:

• Deaf and hearing children copied written words and pseudo-words.
• Measured: number of glances, copying duration, and segmentation locus.
• Manipulated: clear vs. differentiated orthographic and phonological syllable boundaries.

Main Results:

• Both groups used syllables as units when orthographic and phonological cues matched.
• Deaf children failed to perform phonological segmentation when cues differed, unlike hearing children.
• Hearing children successfully segmented based on phonological cues even when differentiated.

Conclusions:

• Deaf children's written word processing is sensitive to syllable structure when cues are consistent.
• Phonological processing in deaf children may be less automatic, favoring orthographic units.
• Further research is needed on the influence of phonological decoding automaticity and potential use of fingerspelled units.